Mediagazer: The RH/Wylie Showdown Ends, New Digital Royalty Rate Is Born (Rachel Deahl/Publishers Weekly)

6:25 AM ET, August 26, 2010

Top News:

The RH/Wylie Showdown Ends, New Digital Royalty Rate Is Born — The news that Random House had “won” its showdown with The Wylie Agency, over the inclusion of titles by its authors in Wylie's backlist digital publishing business Odyssey Editions, spread through publishing circles quickly on Tuesday …

Discussion: theBookseller.com, DailyFinance, Publishing Perspectives, Booksquare, New York Observer, Jacket Copy and GalleyCat

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon Loses E-Book Deal — A month after jolting the book industry with a deal to give Amazon.com Inc. exclusive digital access to some of the country's best-known literary works, literary agent Andrew Wylie is largely abandoning the agreement. — The Amazon deal was struck after Mr. Wylie failed …

Discussion: MediaPost, Engadget, Future Tense, NYConvergence, Publishers Weekly, theBookseller.com, Crain's New York Business and ResourceShelf, more at Techmeme »

Julie Bosman / New York Times:
Random House Wins Battle for E-Book Rights

Discussion: Poynter Online and Electronista

David Pogue / New York Times:

New Kindle Leaves Rivals Farther Back — Too bad there's not a reality TV show called “America's Most Freaked-Out Tech-Company Meetings,” where you watch classic panicked board meetings. For example, when the Apple employee left an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar. Or when Intel learned that its Pentium chip contained a math error.

Wall Street Journal:
The ABCs of E-Reading — New Devices Are Changing Habits.

Discussion: Fast Company and New York Observer

John Lippman / Company Town:

Tribune Co. creditors court Michael Eisner and Jeff Shell for top jobs — Former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael D. Eisner is in discussions that could lead to his return to the media spotlight - as chairman of the now-bankrupt Tribune Co. — The media company's largest creditors …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Romenesko, Hollywood Reporter, paidContent and The Wrap

Media Decoder:

National Journal Hires Major Garrett From Fox News — Major Garrett, the chief White House correspondent for Fox News, is quitting his job at the cable news channel after eight years. He is joining National Journal as a Congressional correspondent. — Mr. Garrett's surprise departure comes …

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, Romenesko, TVNewser, Vanity Fair, Chickaboomer, Media Matters for America, Inside Cable News, Multichannel, Broadcasting & Cable, Strupp, The Wrap, Variety and The Huffington Post

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:
Politico Editor Jim VandeHei Sends Best Wishes To The New National …

Discussion: FishbowlDC and Inside Cable News

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:

Rachel's New War — She didn't want to talk about the mosque. But Fox baited her into it. The MSNBC host banters with Lloyd Grove about “fake” news, wearing glasses on air, and whether she wants to get married. — For a cable news host intent on luring eyeballs to her prime-time show …

Discussion: TVNewser, News Hounds, The Huffington Post, Mediaite and Inside Cable News

Kelly McBride / Poynter Online:
SEO Makes It Too Late for Truth for ‘Ground Zero Mosque’

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Editors Weblog, Romenesko, Writing / Editing, MarketWatch and Online Journalism Review

The Atlantic Online:

10 Reading Revolutions Before E-Books — 1. The phrase “reading revolution” was probably coined by German historian Rolf Engelsing. He certainly made it popular. Engelsing was trying to describe something he saw in the 18th century: a shift from “intensive” reading and re-reading of very few texts to …

Discussion: Snarkmarket

Danah Boyd / Technology Review:

Why Privacy Is Not Dead — The way privacy is encoded into software doesn't match the way we handle it in real life. — Each time Facebook's privacy settings change or a technology makes personal information available to new audiences, people scream foul. Each time, their cries seem to fall on deaf ears.

Donya Blaze / WebNewser:

Evan Smith of Texas Tribune: ‘Journalists Deserve a Living Wage’ — In the final segment of our Media Beat interview, I spoke with Texas Tribune CEO and editor-in-chief Evan Smith about the nonprofit news organization's business model. — Because the Tribune does not receive advertising …

Discussion: Soup and mediabistro.com

MediaShift:

While Others Shrink, KQED Expands Cross-Platform News — Last month, KQED News in San Francisco dramatically expanded the scope of its news coverage with a new website, an increase from six to 16 local radio newscasts and the addition of eight news staffers, including six producers/reporters, a developer and a social media specialist.

Brian Steinberg / AdAge:

Conan's TBS Show Nears Leno and Letterman Pricing — A Conan O'Brien Spot Costs $30,000 to $40,000, but Package Deals Complicate Comparisons — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Do advertisers consider Conan O'Brien's upcoming cable show equivalent to Jay Leno and David Letterman's programs on broadcast networks?

Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:

Podcaster Leo Laporte, the everywhere man — Leo Laporte arrived Thursday at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. — On Friday morning he arrived at the office of KFI AM 640, the radio station that airs his syndicated “The Tech Guy” program. At 3:42 p.m., he was back at the airport, ready to fly home to Petaluma, Calif.

Sarah Hartley:

10 Characteristics of hyperlocal — What, if anything, the term ‘hyperlocal’ now means is something that keeps coming up in conversations I have and it strikes me that it's no longer necessarily defined by a tight geographical area, but instead seems to have evolved to describe more of an attitude than a place.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Joe Flint / Company Town:

TV networks need to think hard about biting that Apple — Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and News Corp.'s Fox seem to be ready to take the plunge with Apple and cut a deal with the software giant to allow their shows to be rented for 99 cents an episode. — That Disney would be eager to go down this road is not too surprising.

Discussion: PC World, MediaPost and WatchingTV Online

Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:

How Entertainment Weekly Embraces the Digital Age — YouTube Channels, Mobile Apps and Barcoded Pages — In partnership with Entertainment Weekly, YouTube just announced the launch of a specialized site for getting a sneak peek at the new television season which includes …

Discussion: Mobile Marketer Content, Thompson on Hollywood and YouTube Blog

Kyle VanHemert / Gizmodo:

What's Apple Announcing at Their Music-Related September 1 Event? — Apple has finally made their September event official, and it's coming sooner than many expected—the “special event” will be held September 1 in San Francisco, and from the look of things it's going to involve music.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Neowin.net, Engadget, VentureBeat, The Next Web and Silicon Alley Insider, more at Techmeme »

Julian Clover / Broadband TV News:

BBC unready to commit to 3DTV format — The BBC says it is unclear as to which 3D format is most likely to emerge as the popular choice among public and commercial broadcasters. In an interview with Broadband TV News' sister publication New Television Insider, Graham Plumb …

Discussion: NewTeeVee and CrunchGear

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Bankrupt Playlist.com Owes Labels $28 Million — It's wrestled with legal issues, on-off label licenses and low income. Now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Playlist.com music service formerly run by Owen Van Natta owes $27.7 million to the major and indie labels for use of their songs.

Discussion: CNET News